Dungeon Design Strategy

[Koniption]

I'm ok with it. Aye!

On slightly separate note - I've been wanting to make sure we have some caves with underwater tunnels and rooms, like Morrowind has. I know the water level can be adjusted for interior cells too, which includes caves and and dungeons.

Since I have not played Oblivion too much, do you know if there is already a good supply of caves with underwater rooms and tunnels, included in vanilla dundeons or extra dungeon tilesets from resource packs???

Koniption

[Ibsen's Ghost]

Yes, I'll certainly be adding to those. I noticed that some of Edolsian's dungeons use water although not quite so well as Leo Gura (Lost Spires) who is a bit of an all-round master on the modding scene IMO. If you take 'Primeval Hollow' as an example, he uses waterfalls and kill-boxes brilliantly to set up some really hazardous set-pieces. It's a standard I'm hoping we can aspire to. =)

Vanilla dungeons do have some underwater parts but not enough and they're pretty unimaginative compared to LS.

[Ibsen's Ghost]

I'm ready to add one of Edolsian's Ayleid dungeons as a template for work on Mannatyr, the Ayelid ruin (and the only one in BM!) along the Parchlands shoreline where the coral reef is found.

It made me consider some other aspects of our dungeon design strategy as we are now getting an increasing number of dungeon exteriors. So I draw up this basic projected list of how many dungeons we should probably use within the beta regions so far. Note that all existing dungeon entrances are named:

JUNGLE

2x Hist Shrines
1x Mine/Mountain Halls
1x Barsaebic Ruin (inc. Mokumalata)
1x Cave
+ 1 hidden cavern at Tenmar Wall and 1 underground combi-system at Stormhold

BLACKWOOD

2x Forts (inc. Fort Carmine)
2-3x Caves (inc. Hixinoag Mine crystal caves and perhaps a spider-cave)
1x Dead Rootworms (inc. Mortified Rootworm)
1x Barsaebic Ruin
+ 1 sewer system in Gideon

EVERGLADES

1x Hist Shrine
1-2x Dead Rootworms
1x Barsaebic Ruin (inc. Xarphyrial)
1x Haunted Glenbridge (using Fort, Ruin or Sewer tileset)

PARCHLANDS

1x Ayleid Ruin (inc. Mannatyr)
2x Forts (inc. Fort Scorpion)
1x Dead Rootworm
1-2x Caves

DARKMOOR

1x Hist Shrine
2x Barsaebic Ruins
2x Spider Caves

[Koniption]

Don't forget possible caves for the animated rootworms, to move them to, in case they affect FPS out in the exterior world too much.

Koniption

[Ibsen's Ghost]

Yes, I considered adding those to the list but they don't really rank as 'dungeons' in the sense of playable quest locations. Nevertheless, I'm still thinking about how best to set up the 'rootworm tunnels'....

[Deeza]

Just an update, I have added a Mine (which also doubles as a prison, which has a small, mostly inaccessible surface fort attached) to the Jungle region. Also a small Ayleid ruin which runs into the Stormhold Undercity.

[Ibsen's Ghost]

Sounds good, Deeza! :goodjob:

[Nero]

i think XAE is rite to say we need to make interesting dungeons! we need to make giat caverns and waterfalls that come through a hole in the surface or a lake underground like evry fable game does.

Also, having played through lost spires a lot, i loved the way they captured a good epic feel of awsomness and i think we should not copy but aspire to do something of that sort. If we could make a dungeon like it but with a nice Bm feel to it, we have got our selves a money grabber.

but if Ed is cool with it then......



a big mother dumpin AYE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! frome me

[Ibsen's Ghost]

Yes, my thoughts exactly. We do indeed have plenty of water in these dungeons I'm currently adapting. Edolsian's dungeons are quite inventive but then we can also add another BM flavour to them as well. Stuff like KP's whipvines make for excellent little BM-specific traps...and I must remember to make more use of things like the exploding seedpods...

[Nero]

oooh, i am getting excitement quivers from all this talk of awsomeness